Using only one Costco rotisserie chicken, Nicole shows you how to make three deliciously easy chicken recipes in this video! Featuring chicken & spinach Alfredo baked stuffed shells, chicken fajita skillet casserole, and coconut chicken soup with rice, these comforting meals will bring variety to the weeknight dinner table.
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00:00Mm, people are gonna die over these.
00:03Love, love, love this.
00:05I could eat this every single day.
00:07At this point in my life and probably your life,
00:09I'm all about whatever makes life easier.
00:12And today I'm going to do that for you.
00:14You're going to pick up one rotisserie chicken
00:17and we're gonna make three meals out of it.
00:19And the great part is I'm gonna take this
00:20like a meal prep approach.
00:21I'm going to make all three meals at the same time
00:23that you can eat on all week, $5, $5 for your main protein.
00:30Let's do it.
00:31I do think this project is going to work best
00:34with a Costco chicken because they are the biggest.
00:37More bang for your cluck.
00:39Get it?
00:41The first step is to take your chicken and shred it all up.
00:44Oh, and don't throw away the bones
00:45because the carcass, the bones,
00:47and the little meat that's left on it,
00:49that's gonna make our third meal.
00:50First up, chicken and spinach alfredo baked stuffed shells.
00:55Okay, this can be fully prepped in advance.
00:57It's a whole new way to eat chicken alfredo.
01:00This one is for sure gonna be a winner and it's pasta
01:02so we know it's gonna fill you up.
01:03You'll see I'm picking this chicken off.
01:05I'm not worried about getting every little bit
01:09off of the bone because I want to have some of that
01:11in my soup at the end.
01:13I'm also taking the skin off
01:15because I really don't need it.
01:16It's already served its purpose,
01:18which is keeping the chicken moist
01:20and giving it some flavor.
01:21All right, I've got all my chicken shredded
01:24and then the not so beautiful but oh so functional carcass.
01:29It's right here.
01:30Now, this is probably gonna gross you out
01:32but I'm just keeping it real, okay?
01:34When you chill it, there's this like gelatinous stuff.
01:37That is flavor.
01:37That's going to give body to our stock and so much flavor.
01:41So I'm not throwing that away.
01:43I'm gonna go ahead and make my stock.
01:44So just put your carcass, all the stuff in a pot.
01:48When you make a stock, you always wanna start it
01:50in cold water so that everything extracts naturally
01:53and at the same time.
01:54If you put it straight in hot water,
01:56you're not going to get all that flavor
01:58because it didn't have a chance
01:59to like release from the bones.
02:01Okay, so to that, just to help with the flavor.
02:04This is when I like to kind of clean out my fridge.
02:06Whatever you've got like in your produce drawer,
02:08just throw that in the pot.
02:09It's all gonna get strained out.
02:10It's gonna add great flavor, okay?
02:12And then I'm just tossing all of this
02:13into the pot with the chicken.
02:15That's it.
02:16Okay, while I'm back here, I'm gonna go ahead
02:17and boil my shells for my alfredo.
02:21You wanna cook these a little less than done.
02:23Okay, for my filling, I'm using a combination
02:26of the light and dark meat.
02:28I'm gonna give them a little bit of a chop.
02:30So I'm gonna save like half of this for our other meal
02:34and then I'm gonna chop up the rest even further
02:38because those shells are not that big.
02:39So we want, you know, a little bit of everything
02:41in our alfredo filling.
02:43Okay, so in with the chicken, some spinach.
02:45This is just one box of frozen spinach
02:48and then some ricotta cheese.
02:49You could also use just cottage cheese here
02:51and then about equal parts of grated Parmesan.
02:54Okay, I'm also going in with some fresh basil.
02:57Just kind of mixes right in with the spinach.
02:59Okay, a little bit of salt and pepper
03:01and a little bit of garlic powder.
03:02All right, give that a mix and then one egg.
03:06The egg is optional, but it's just gonna add
03:08a little bit of richness and kind of hold it together
03:09a little bit.
03:10In perfect timing, our shells are ready.
03:13So you wanna drain them and then just kind of
03:14shock them a little bit with cold water
03:16just till they're like cool enough to handle.
03:18Okay, then we're just going to simply spoon the filling
03:22into each little shell and place it into a casserole dish.
03:25I'm gonna put a little olive oil down
03:26at the bottom of my dish so it doesn't stick.
03:29I'm gonna take store-bought Alfredo sauce.
03:31Again, it's all about making your life easier.
03:33So we're gonna put a little bit of Alfredo
03:35down at the bottom.
03:37Okay, and then we're just gonna pack them in.
03:38This is definitely the meal that, of course,
03:40you can enjoy right away, but this one's gonna last
03:42in the fridge for a couple days and then you can
03:44just bake it off on the day that you wanna eat it.
03:46And now we are going to take our Alfredo
03:50and just slather it all over these.
03:53You could use like one large Alfredo sauce jar
03:56or two of these like smaller containers.
03:59Some shredded mozzarella, just a little more Parmesan.
04:03I'm gonna cover it and bake it for the first half
04:05and then uncover it till it's, you know,
04:07all browned and bubbly.
04:08Again, if you were just meal prepping for the week,
04:11you could stop here, stick this in the fridge,
04:12and you've got one dinner done.
04:14But you wanna see what it looks like.
04:16Two meals going, let's prep our third.
04:20We have to have a Taco Tuesday inspired meal
04:23every single week.
04:24So I'm doing a chicken fajita skillet casserole.
04:28So easy.
04:29Skillet, any kind of oven proof skillet.
04:31I love using a cast iron skillet.
04:33And then I'm gonna cut up some peppers and onions
04:35because fajitas.
04:37Okay, so I got some sweet bell pepper
04:39and then instead of like green bell pepper,
04:40I'm using poblanos.
04:42I just think these have more flavor.
04:44That's all the prep you have to do.
04:45Okay, get your skillet hot.
04:47Whenever I'm doing a one pot meal,
04:49it is all about building the layers of flavor in there.
04:52So the first layer of flavor is gonna happen
04:55when I saute these peppers and onions.
04:56So you want it really hot so that they caramelize.
04:59So you let it go like four or five minutes
05:01without even stirring and then you get that color.
05:04So at this point, I'll go in with my salt,
05:07pepper, a little garlic powder,
05:10a little chili powder, and cumin.
05:14That's it.
05:15Give that a stir, let them cook about one more minute.
05:17Okay, so I'm just gonna take these out
05:19and set them aside for a second.
05:22You know like when you're making a casserole,
05:23one of the popular ingredients is the old cream of.
05:27We're making our own cream of right here, okay?
05:30So I'm gonna add in a couple tablespoons of butter
05:33and then a couple tablespoons of flour.
05:35Cook that down a bit.
05:36So we've made our little roux
05:38and then you just add a liquid.
05:39Then you've got cream of whatever you want it to be.
05:41So I'm gonna add in a can of like fire roasted tomatoes
05:44and green chilies with their juices in here.
05:47And the acid from this is going to release
05:49all that flavor from the bottom of the pan.
05:51And then I'm gonna add in a little bit of chicken stock.
05:53Basically I want a really thick kind of gravy at this point.
05:57This is gonna be like the main base of our casserole.
06:01Okay, so in goes the chicken
06:02and then just to stretch this chicken
06:04and make the meal extra, extra hearty,
06:06I'm gonna add in a can of pinto beans.
06:09So extra kind of bulk to the meal.
06:12Okay, and then in goes the chicken.
06:13This is still like plenty of chicken.
06:16Mm-hmm, this is gonna be just a crowd favorite.
06:19Cheese, you can use pre-shredded here or shred your own.
06:22Add in about half your cheese.
06:25Then our peppers and onions.
06:27Then some chips.
06:29I just love layering textures.
06:32Just gonna kind of break them up in big pieces.
06:35And then the rest of your cheese.
06:36At this point, if you're meal prepping,
06:39you can leave it at this, stick it in the fridge,
06:41or you can go straight into the oven
06:43and cook it till it's all bubbly.
06:46And just like that, Alfredo's ready to come out
06:49and this is ready to go in.
06:50Are you kidding?
06:51The smell is insane.
06:53Okay, that one's out and this one's going in.
06:56Since everything was already hot in there,
06:58we're just waiting on that cheese to melt
07:00and it kind of get bubbly around the edge.
07:02Now for this, you want it to sit for a while
07:05before you dig in because all that Alfredo saucy goodness
07:08needs to kind of settle.
07:10Okay.
07:12Now this, this is that dinner that really comes together
07:17in like no time at all.
07:19Now this is, you know, you've got all that made in advance
07:21and then you just serve this with whatever toppings
07:23you like, so you know, your little bit of sour cream,
07:26maybe lettuce, salsa.
07:28Just nailing it.
07:30For my final trick, coconut chicken soup with rice.
07:35Yum, yum.
07:36Now, if your family kids don't love like coconut soup,
07:40A, you should really just get them to try this
07:42because this is not scary, it's not overwhelming in flavor,
07:45it's just like perfectly delightful,
07:46but the idea is that for your third meal
07:49with your rotisserie chicken, soup is the best option.
07:52It is comforting, even if you just eat the broth
07:54with noodles or with rice in this case,
07:57it's still gonna be nutritious.
07:59Okay, so I'm gonna cut up the green onions.
08:01I'm gonna save the green part for later,
08:04but then start with the light green and white parts.
08:08There's that prep, plus it's just mincing some fresh ginger.
08:11Okay, so that's all the prep.
08:14Now let's get this broth strained.
08:16Voila, chicken stock.
08:19And this is packed with that good, you know, collagen
08:21that's come out of the bones and stuff,
08:23so this is the good stuff.
08:25I'm gonna strain out the liquid
08:27just so we don't get some of those like floaty bits.
08:29How big of a mess am I making?
08:31Yes.
08:33I mean, normally I would do it in the sink,
08:34I'm just trying to put on a show.
08:36See how beautiful that is?
08:38I mean, all we started with was water.
08:41So you can see the color, let's just see the flavor.
08:45I mean, you can totally taste the chicken flavor.
08:49It's like a hug, like a warm hug.
08:51Okay, so I'm gonna pull the chicken out.
08:53See all that meat that's still in there?
08:54We want that in our soup, so I'm just gonna kind of,
08:57you know, get that off the bone
08:58and I'm just gonna add it to our broth that we're using.
09:01What I like to do while your stock is still really hot
09:04is add in some bouillon.
09:05So I love the paste,
09:07but you could also just throw in a bouillon cube here.
09:09It's just going to intensify that chicken flavor.
09:12Okay, so that's it.
09:14Let's make our soup.
09:15All right, so you're just going to get another pot
09:17or the same pot you used earlier.
09:19I'm gonna go in with coconut oil
09:21just to get our veggies sauteed.
09:23Okay, so I'm just gonna sweat these onions down
09:25a little bit in the oil along with our ginger.
09:28I'm also gonna go in with just a little bit of salt
09:31because I'm not trying to achieve color here,
09:32I'm just trying to kind of soften it up a bit.
09:35My kids happen to love mushrooms here.
09:36You can use whatever veggies you like at this point
09:39and then just cook those until the mushrooms
09:41get a little color and they've softened a bit.
09:43Okay, to the sauteed mushrooms,
09:45I'm going in with some matchstick carrots.
09:47I like using these because they're really thin
09:49and so they'll cook down soft really quickly.
09:52Now I'll add in a little more salt to help soften those.
09:56And you can see that we have created
09:58a little flavorful base right here.
10:01Smells really good.
10:02I'm gonna add in some garlic powder.
10:05And a little bit of pepper.
10:06Okay, now I'm going in with my chicken stock.
10:09Scrape up any of the flavor
10:11that has accumulated on the bottom.
10:14And now the coconut milk.
10:16I'm using the full fat coconut milk that's unsweetened.
10:19We're not trying to create a sweet soup here, okay?
10:22Keep it savory.
10:23So just full fat, unsweetened coconut milk.
10:26Don't worry if it's solid like that, that's even better.
10:29As it heats up, it'll thin right out.
10:31And then I'm gonna add in the chicken.
10:34Okay, and then I'm just gonna bring this up to a simmer,
10:36let everything kind of get acquainted with each other.
10:39And that's it, I mean, dinner is done.
10:41Cook yourself some rice in the meantime.
10:44I'll stir in my green onions at the end.
10:46And we'll dish it all up.
10:50I forgot, I do have to finish the soup off
10:52in my special way.
10:53Those green onions we chopped up earlier.
10:56And then squeeze in some fresh lime juice.
11:00It adds like a little sweet and tart.
11:03All right, and here's how I like to serve this.
11:05If you want to make this like to kick it up spice wise,
11:09you could add in a little sriracha to the soup
11:11or just to your bowl.
11:13But I like to serve this kind of like you would gumbo.
11:16And then I like to put the rice
11:17kind of just like right in the middle.
11:19Few more green onions, a little sriracha.
11:24We did it, one chicken, three meals, all very different,
11:29all very filling, all very full of flavor.
11:32Meal number one, our chicken, spinach,
11:35alfredo baked stuffed shells.
11:38Oh man, look at that, that is good looking.
11:43Mm, people are gonna die for these.
11:46Big meaty piece of chicken in the middle
11:48of each pasta shell.
11:51Richness from that like ricotta filling
11:53but that, you know, savory alfredo sauce at the bottom.
11:57It's like I just want to like drink that.
12:00That's delicious, like delicious.
12:03Chicken fajita skillet casserole.
12:07I mean, you can just look at this and see all the flavor.
12:10I like to top it, you know, how you would like to top
12:12your taco, a little sour cream, a little hot sauce,
12:15perfect bites, those little chips on the top.
12:18Make it, mm, it's like nachos meets fajitas
12:24meets like an enchilada casserole all in one bite.
12:30Love, love, love this.
12:31I stand by what I said earlier,
12:33I could eat this every single day.
12:36Mm, our soup could be our lunch, you know.
12:42That's just, it's like, it makes you feel good inside.
12:46It's like, you know, if you feel like you're getting a cold,
12:48this will do the trick.
12:49There's so much flavor, you taste the coconut,
12:51you taste the savory chicken,
12:52but then that lime at the end makes it, mm.
12:57I also recommend the hot sauce at the end.
13:01This is so good.
13:02I mean, you wouldn't know that I made all three of these
13:04just from one rotisserie chicken.
13:07And for $4.99, you can't beat it.
13:10Oh, and this is not sponsored, but it could be.
13:15Your move, Costco.
13:18If you want to make your own for this,
13:21be my guest, be my guest.
13:25I do not have the rights for that.